Cracker Barrel is making a “promise” to customers after its new logo sparked backlash from fans of the restaurant chain and caused it to lose over $100 billion in stock value. 

Last week, Cracker Barrel announced a new logo that sparked immediate outrage across the country. The new logo dumps both the barrel and the older man leaning against it. In the new modern stark logo, seen below, the traditional image is gone as well as the words “Old Country Store.” Instead, the new emblem features a simpler design with just “Cracker Barrel” written on a gold background. The shape of the gold background and font have also been changed.

The dramatic change left customers furious, from President Trump to country music star John Rich and countless others.

On Monday, the company released a statement with a “promise to our guests.” 

“We’re truly grateful for your heartfelt voices. You’ve also shown us that we could’ve done a better job sharing who we are and who we’ll always be,” Cracker Barrel wrote.

Cracker Barrel has been working on a wider rebrand for some time. Beyond the new logo, it has also started remodeling its country-style restaurants and retail stores. The company began ramping up this overhaul last year by swapping out older, more antique-filled designs with lighter paint and modern furniture.

But Monday’s statement claimed that the 55-year-old restaurant’s core values and traditions haven’t changed. “The things people love most about our stores aren’t going anywhere: rocking chairs on the porch, a warm fire in the hearth, peg games on the table, unique treasures in our gift shop, and vintage Americana with antiques pulled straight from our warehouse in Lebanon, Tennessee.”

As for the “old timer” in the discarded logo, he was an image of founder Danny Evins actual Uncle Herschel. Cracker Barrel says he will still appear on the menu and elsewhere in the country store.

Old menu favorites, like meatloaf and country fried steak, will also be sticking around, Cracker Barrel said, “with a few new dishes joining the menu.”

“We know we won’t always get everything right the first time, but we’ll keep testing, learning, and listening to our guests and employees,” the statement said. “At the end of the day, our promise is simple: you’ll always find comfort, community, and country hospitality here at Cracker Barrel.”

Founded in 1969 in Lebanon, Tennessee by Danny Evins,  Cracker Barrel now operates nearly 660 locations across the U.S. today. According to Cracker Barrel, this latest look marks the brand’s “fifth evolution” of its logo to date. 

None have produced the backlash of this change, and the non-apology apology from Cracker Barrel today is unlikely to satisfy critics of the new logo nor the new interior design of the restaurants. The statement issued by Cracker Barrel read like it had been composed like a patchwork quilt of catch phrases by a bunch of their woke interns. Which it probably was; or perhaps worse, by a committee of their highly paid New York City ad executives who’ve never dined at a Cracker Barrel below the Mason Dixon line.

Steve Gill is the publisher of Tri-Star daily and frequently dined with Danny Evins at the original Cracker Barrel in Lebanon before he passed.